


A Similar Sorrow

by GriffinHeart



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Support, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GriffinHeart/pseuds/GriffinHeart
Summary: Gwen struggles during an anniversary. Peter can relate.





	A Similar Sorrow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Redrikki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/gifts).



> Set Post-Movie, and with a bit of assumption on the end credit scene.

The smile fixed onto Gwen’s face stretched awkwardly, cast into her face like plaster. Miles had invited the entire gang over for burgers, at the one restaurant that had burned down in her reality. In Peter’s, it had simply closed. He was digging into his third burger when he made some dumb joke about something sci-fi, making the rest of the group chuckle. Gwen only stiffened. Peter, the real one, her Peter, used to make the same joke. He always knew that she thought it was lame. Her fries were cold.

Gwen stood up, wincing at the scrape of the heavy plastic chair against the linoleum floor. The ceiling fans emitted a low pitched buzzing, their harsh white light making her squint. Everything in this reality was too bright. 

“Gwen?” Miles said, his voice tinged with worry. Everyone was looking. Staring at her. 

“I just remembered I have a big test tomorrow that I need to study for, sorry guys.” she apologized. If her speech was a little too quick or her words a little too slurred together no one mentioned it. 

“Oh, well,” Miles ran his hand through his hair, “that’s fine. Study hard!” He grinned. 

“Come on, we all know Gwen,” Peter stood up, throwing an arm over her shoulder, cajoling her as she froze, “she doesn’t need to study for anything. Stick around.”

Gwen’s lip curled as she stepped out of Peter’s hold. “You don’t know me.” she growled. Gwen flushed and stepped back, the stares of her friends heavy on her shoulders. “Just--” she stuttered, frustrated, “good night.” She turned the dial on her wrist and warped away before any response. 

“Uh, bye.” Peter said to the empty air, deadpan. He turned and faced the rest of the group. “What’s with her?”

They shrugged.

“Maybe she’s really worried about the test?” Porker suggested, before swallowing the rest of his meal in one comically oversized bite.

“I don’t know, she hasn’t ever reacted like that to a test before. I think it might be you.” Peni said while typing on her phone, pointing at Peter without looking up.

“What? Why me?”

“She stood up to leave after you said something about a space wizard and a war in the stars.” Noir said, his speech coated in his thick accent, “and then she snapped when you tried to get her to stay. It’s you.”

Peter scoffed, crossing his arms. The noise he made more closely resembled a squawk. 

“Maybe you could talk to her?” Miles suggested, shrugging. 

Peter huffed, muttering to himself. “I hate teenagers. Fine,” he said, louder, “I’ll go see what’s wrong. Please, enjoy eating all of this amazing food without me.”

“Will do!” Porker grinned, finishing what was left on Peter’s plate.

He sighed and turned the dial on his wrist, warping into Gwen’s reality.

“Gwen?” He called out, looking around the park he ended up in. Everything in Gwen’s reality was more colorful, more neon, but darker than the vivid colors of Miles’ reality. “I know you’re around here somewhere.”

The transporters on their wrists teleported Spideys into each other’s dimensions, and always in close proximity to one another. When questioned on it, Miguel had muttered something about it being inconvenient to end up on the other side of the planet if you’re called in for help. 

The spider sense on the back of Peter’s neck alerted him, and made him look up towards a park bench. It wasn’t an alarm, but more of a gentle prodding. He listened closely, and heard sniffling. Walking towards the bench, he kept his footsteps light. In the darkness, he could see the shape of Gwen, sitting on the ground on the other side of the bench.

Peter vaulted over the back of the bench and sat on it, next to Gwen. “You know,” he said, as Gwen startled, “benches, like these? Usually made for sitting on, not next to.”

Gwen frowned, crossing her arms and turning away from him. “Go away.”

“Come on,” he whined. Sitting closer, he noticed the tear tracks on her face, “what’s bothering you? Don’t give me some crap about a test.”

She remained silent, staring ahead.

Peter sighed, “Y’know, when I was giving the silent treatment with my uncle he would usually--”

“--dunk a bucket of ice water over my head when I least expected it,” she parroted, miming him. She snarled, “God, you even tell the same stories.” 

Peter was gaping, his mouth awkwardly opening and closing as he tried to think of a retort. He sighed, and leaned back into the park bench, staring at the stars. The ones in his universe looked different, hers had a faint purple hue. 

“Y’know, my universe had a Gwen.” 

She looked up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened to her?”

“I failed her. Same thing that happens to everyone I love. She was the first of many.”

The silence stretched, the air filled with a nameless tension almost as thick as the humidity. Peter’s gaze was fixed to the faint purple stars, Gwen’s studying Peter’s face. 

“Peter, my Peter, he used to make the dumbest Space Battles jokes, Star Wars to you, I think. He referenced it in nearly every conversation, it made me want to throw him out a window.”

Peter chuckled, before forcing his face into a deadpan expression. “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Gwen rolled her eyes and punched Peter in the shoulder. 

“Gwen used to remind me constantly to study for tests. She was the valedictorian of our high school, bound for Harvard. She was the best of all of us.” He turned his head away from Gwen, bringing his hands down his face. “I miss her.”

“Sometimes,” Gwen paused, and sighed, “sometimes looking at you hurts.”

“I know kid.”

“Sometimes you say something and I completely forget that my best friend is dead. Then I notice the birthmark on your chin and the grey streaking through your hair and it’s like he died all over again, right in front of me.” Her voice broke. “When does it get better?”

Peter crouched down and wrapped Gwen in an embrace, feeling her shoulders tremble under him. “I don’t know. One day at a time, that’s all I can tell you.”

Gwen felt the tears begin to run down her face, finally breaking through the stubborn hold she had reining them in. “Just last year I was celebrating today. We went to the movies and I snuck cupcakes into the theater, even little candles to celebrate his birthday. I think the workers might’ve freaked out at the smell of smoke.”

Peter chuckled, “The two of you must’ve had a lot of fun.”

She smiled sadly, “All of it.”

Peter released the hug and sat beside her. She leaned against him as they sat in silent vigil for their lost friends, staring up at the twinkling purple stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Your request asked for a kick in the feels, I hope I've delivered.


End file.
